Healthcare is a huge problem in this country. It is almost impossible to afford healthcare and the rates are always going up. The main reason is that doctors and insurance companies raise the rates for people that have insurance to cover the cost of those that do not have insurance.
When I did not have healthcare, I never went to the doctor or dentist unless I could pay cash. There have been a few times I should have gone to the emergency room, but because I couldn’t pay for it, I didn’t go. I also didn’t do anything where potential for injury was high, like dirtbike riding because I could not pay for the hospital bill if I slammed into a tree. One of the main reasons I joined the Army for the second time was medical coverage for myself and my family.
Instead of national healthcare for everyone, just simply stop treating people that do not have insurance. Stop giving medical care to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.
After we stop treating people that cannot pay for it, then we (the government) can work on figuring out how to make it affordable. I have talked to so many people from countries that have universal or national healthcare and they all say the same thing: “It sucks.” It takes months to get an appointment and then you have to wait for hours in line to be seen. The drugs are cheap and may or may not work.
Let’s stop the “giving everything away for free” nonsense. Illegals will stop coming here, and freeloading Americans will have to go earn a living.
Don’t blame it on doctors. If you’d see what their Medicare reimbursment is for some serious procedures (which regular insurers base their payouts off of), you’d be surprised.
Blame it on the health systems and the insurance providers, like the Evil empire UPMC, who can rake in 600 Million in profit as a not-for-profit institution.
You would be shocked at how little some very complicated procedures actually pay out to the surgeon who performs it.
I work for a global multi-billion dollar privately held biotech company, and my division makes an extra cellular matrix used in soft tissue repair from dura mater surrounding the brain down to skin ulcers on feet. It provides a scaffold with growth factors that lets the human tissue regrow in to it and repair itself, then the material reabsorbs and disappears.
We deal daily with new and alternative procedures, and part of selling a surgeon on using our product relies heavily on being able to apply a CPT code or DRG code to the procedure so the surgeon and hospital can get paid for doing the procedure.
In my line of work, I see what Medicare reimbursments are for surgeons in various specialties I deal with from Neurosurgeons to Uro-Gynecologists. I have reference books that show me what code applies to a procedure, and what the payout is to the surgeon and the hospital or ambulatory surgery center from that code. And in some cases, for common but much needed procedures, they don’t make much at all.
Plus, a few friends are surgeons, and my brother in law is one as well.
EDIT: I do need to say that this varies regionaly, as medicare reimbursmsnets are paid out differently in different parts of the country. It also varies on whether the hospital is a teaching hospital or not. The codes are essentially the same, however in a teaching atmosphere, the surgeon isn’t coding for his own practice to receive the reimbursment; he’s coding and the hospital gets it all while he is salaried. Which, in a lot of cases is better for his pay, however he then is forced to turn out procedures like a pupp mill. But in the non-teaching and regional hospitals, the surgeon submits a code, and that’s what he and his practice gets paid. The hospital then submits a code based on what the surgeon coded that procedure, and then they get paid also for the materials used and labor involved.
And after reading the post below, I agree… however I sleep well knowing that my company isn’t one of those biotech companies dirving up costs. We actually make products that lose money, but make it because no one else will and patients need it. That is the beauty of working for a non-public company. We’re not driven by stockholders, but instead by the morality of one person who really is a great guy.
Interesting Lee, I run a Molecular Neurology lab for cough UPMC, investigating neuron-astrocyte interaction in ischemic/TBI/exitotoxic events in neurodegenerative diseases. The doctors themselves have VERY LITTLE to do with what is charged for a given procedure. In fact, they stand to make almost nothing. They don’t get paid extra for doing a complicated procedure, they are salaried like the rest of us, just on a somewhat elevated scale, and procedures are coded as to what they make from it. Doctors themselves have no say in what they charge for any given procedure. My Neurology dept as a whole actually loses money evey year, but there are several factors involved. The probelm with healthcare in this country is we have let privatized biotech/medical/insurance companies drive the rates up, while simulatenously having a bleeding heart mentaility when it comes to administering medical care.
As the so-called bastions of the universe, as our country likes to see itself, we set the standard for giving care to those who need it regardless of ability to pay. It remains to be seems if our current system could withstand the weight of universal heathcare without caving in on itself, as opposed to having the portion of the population shouldering the weight of healthcare for those that cannot afford it.
I say this to those who bitch about rising heathcare cost, as if the sole reason is due to providing care for the needy…I hope you are diagnosed with an incurable disease that costs more than your are capable of paying for, so you can see the other side of the page.
its funny how people always get on government assistance…but given the situation they do the same thing.
a lot of people CANT afford health care…so an alternative is government assistance
i don;t like people who abuse it, but it does have its place.
its like that walmart study they did…a person/family working @ walmart & doing all their shopping @ walmart could not make it…just not enough money…& throw in heath care & that makes it worse.
what does a family do when they have a minimal or minimum wage income & kids. & don’t say get a better job…some people can’t…there are people in the world who will never be higher then a laborer/cashier, etc…
& if you’re still going to blame it on the persons skills to get a better job…they you go to the next problem… EDUCATION
tell me why some schools don’t even have foreign language option. how do you get into a half decent college with no foreign language?
then there is the BS no child left behind…where the schools are so focused on math & english that the students don’t even have history,social studies, gym/health, etc…
the whole fucking system…ITS SICKENING!!!
what ive been thinking about is this…are the schools shitty & that makes the rich kids go to private school or are the schools shitty because the rich kids go to private school…& i think its more the latter
i think it would be interesting to see what would happen if they closed all private schools in Pgh & surrounding area…I guarantee the public schools would get better & FAST.
sorry that a bled onto the education problem but its all relevant
You’re joking right? The reason private schools are good is because nobody would pay money to go to one if it sucked. Crappy private schools don’t succeed, but public schools can blow donkey nuts and they keep getting budget increases from our wonderful government anyway.
The parents sending kids to private schools already pay school taxes to fund the public schools (which suck). The parents choose to pay for school twice, so that their kids can get a better education. The real answer would be to eliminate teachers unions and tenure, and to allow people to choose which public school they wanted to attend, rather than forcing them to attend a certain one based on their physical address/zip code.
So by eliminating the teachers unions and giving free reign to our “wonderful government” in a socialist manner, that would defeat the purpose of privatizing education?
reading comprehension please…i’m not debating quality of private schools…i’m debating the quality of public due to private schools
if you don’t think public would get better if all kids had to go to them your kidding yourself.
you don’t think that if there were no private schools the rich would demand better from the fed & pubilc school system?
there are pubilc schools in pgh that don’t even have enough book so kids can take them home to study & do homework… WTF is up with that
2nd…the reason taxes are so high in some area has a lot to due to services offered to students within the school…speech, math, special ed, etc…
3rd…if you live in they city you can send your kid to a different public one then the one in your area.
like i said…its a combination of parents & schools who are failing out children & the system.
when a teacher has a 50 min class & spends 20mins disciplining them & only 30mins teaching thats a problem from home…
when a teacher has to follow the no child left behind shit & your child misses out on a real learning experiences… thats a problem from the fed.
so move to russia if you want everyone to be the same.
Everyone has the same opportunity, don’t give me this BS about bad schooling. Every school is the same, you get out of it what you put into it. It’s lazy ass parents who don’t give a shit about their kids education and teaching them that life is about getting something for nothing. I should not have to pay taxes to fund a lazy ass family who doesn’t want to provide for themselves.
Because they do that at private schools. They say screw you and your money, we have hundreds of other paying students who behave and we don’t want them to leave because of your delinquent antics. So the bad kid is booted, and ends up, most likely in a public school. The fact that we won’t kick anyone out and we want EVERYONE to have an education, is the reason education blows.
For the record, you can’t pick schools in the suburbs, unless you pay your own way at a private school.
If we could get over ourselves and give kids a few F grades, and kick them out of school, we’d be much better off. Some people refuse to help themselves, and despite the money we pour into the problem, we can’t either.
I think it’s very harsh to say “fuck it” to the people who can’t afford insurance…many college aged kids don’t have insurance, so what, they just get denied medical attention?
it may be harsh, but life isn’t always easy. In order for america to get back on track, we need to quit being so “PC” and do what it takes.
you don’t have to be denied medical attention, but if you don’t have insurance, take out a loan. Don’t make me pay for your broke ass when you do something stupid and need medical attention.
Explain that to your son. when his best friend needs a life threatning surgery and will be on presciptions the rest of his life. then his Best friend needs to move because his dads well paying job has shitty health care coverage and can’t cover it. what basic WELFARE would cover.
Then what???
say son his dad is a piece of shit, find a new friend ???
Theirs enough loans out their, that’s why this economy sucks.